This is the only web log to specialize in the declining use of the French language, both globally and within France itself. We use recent and less recent web articles, blog entries and books written in French, English, German and other languages to document the failure of costly Francophonie policies in- and outside France.

11/07/2008

A young man missed his last train in Brugges. He had to look for a hotel. At the station he phoned his French speaking girlfriend to explain he couldn't make it. Of course he phoned in French. A guy interrupts this private conversation by punching in his back saying: "In Brugge spreken we Vlaams!" (In Bruges we speak Flemish.) The young man thought he didn't have to explain why he phoned in French and went on. A few seconds later he is pulled at his shoulder and receives a serious fist blow in his face. He bleeds and looses one tooth.

The French actor Stéphane Bern sitting on a terrace in Brugges cannot get a drink. The waiter refuses to serve him because he speaks French.

And then, on October 17, 2008, the 14 year old Sara. Perfectly bilingual: She walks home with a friend after school. They gossip and tattle in French. They are surrounded by three other girls from school. One is sending an SMS. Another reproaches Sara that she speaks French in Flanders. Sara tries to defend herself but a few minutes later the mates of the other girls appear at the scenery. Sara receives 38 stabs of a cutter knife. While they stab, they shout: "Geen Frans, we zijn hier in Vlaanderen." (No French, We are in flanders here.)

8 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Yes wonderful, the decline of French. Until now it was useless to learn French, because too many people used to talk it. It was spread all over the world. But now with its decline it will become a language nobody uses. Welcome in the club of classic latin. In the ancient world it was only known by Cesar, an impotent emperor; but now so many schools torture their students with classic latin. That will be the fate of classic French which will be useless. But will be taught in so many secondary schools. It is good that this blog helps French to share the fate of classic Latin, spoken by nobody, but learnt by everybody.

"14 year old Sara. She walks home with a friend after school. They gossip and tattle in French. They are surrounded by three other girls from school. One is sending an SMS. Another reproaches Sara that she speaks French in Flanders. Sara tries to defend herself but a few minutes later the mates of the other girls appear at the scenery. Sara receives 38 stabs of a cutter knife. While they stab, they shout: "Geen Frans, we zijn hier in Vlaanderen." (No French, We are in flanders here.)"

A whole gang of subhumans against 14 year old girl who got 38 stabs of a cutter knife!Wonderful.No surprise, the Flemings are known as the most coward people on Earth. Filthy unwashed monkeys all of them.

In Brussels surburbs with over 80% French speakers, democracy is denied, French speaking mayors elected by an overwhelming majority of citizens aren't allowed to do their job, they are assaulted by nazi hoodlums under protection of the coward Flemish police.

The Flemish authorities have banned French as a working language but Arabic, Turkish, Yiddish and English are OK in Flanders.

As a result, post popular 'christian' name in Antwerp in Mohammed, Rotterdam has a Moroccan mayor and Amsterdam a Jewish one.

The Dutch speaking pigs are reaping the harvest they have sown.Dutch culture has no future.

"In Brussels surburbs with over 80% French speakers". I do not want to disappoint you, but there are no Brussels suburbs with over 80% French speakers. Don't believe any statistics you haven't forged yourself, anonymous.

"The Flemish authorities have banned French as a working language but Arabic, Turkish, Yiddish and English are OK in Flanders." Arabic, Turkish, Yiddish and English are no working languages in Flanders either. Should I remind you that plenty of African immigrants were invited into Belgium by the Francophile federal authorities of Belgium themselves in the hopes that they would weaken the status of Dutch in the country, especially in Brussels, and strengthen the importance of French? I am not saying that this has yielded the results they hoped it would, but hey, sometimes you gotta be careful what you wish for, lest it come true.

In other words, the French speakers are reaping what they sowed. French culture has no future.

"French speaking mayors ... are assaulted by nazi hoodlums under protection of the coward Flemish police."That's some story you've got there, anonymous. Can you give us a link to news reports that substantiate it? We'd be really grateful.

Unfrench, I know you have an intense dislike for your native land and their language policies, but I sincerely hope you are not suggesting that any of the people mentioned in this' article "deserve" this treatment. Your blog entries tend to be pro-English and anti-French. Well, here's a news flash---a Flemish airport attendant refused to help someone who talked to her in English even though she knew what he was saying.

I sympathize with what the Flemish have had to put up with underneath the Walloons since 1830, but my sympathy only goes so far. NOTHING justifies this sort of treatment. What the Flemish are doing is similar to what the Quebecois have been doing since the Quiet Revolution---but I have yet to hear of a case where an Anglo Quebecker was attacked simply for speaking English.

And make no mistake---if the incident at the airport is to be believed, it is not that far to believe that for some of these zealots, English may be just as much an enemy as French.

If Belgium dissolves and Flanders becomes independent, they need to guarantee basic civil rights to people not privileged to speak Dutch.

"If Belgium dissolves and Flanders becomes independent, they need to guarantee basic civil rights to people not privileged to speak Dutch."Agreed, but since the French have never respected the rights of non-French speakers in Brussels and Wallonia and probably will keep discriminating against them after being separated from Flanders, Flemish anger certainly is not going to abate any time soon. Vengeance is not to be condoned, but respect generally is a two-way street.